Markets Right Now: US stocks slump on day of wide swings

Associated Press

Published on
Oct. 11, 2018 | Updated 6:34 a. m.

Trader Michael Capolino works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday. The market's recent decline was set off by a sharp drop in bond prices and a corresponding increase in yields last week and early this week.

NEW YORK (AP) — The latest on developments in financial markets (all times local):

4:00 p.m.

Stocks are slumping for a second straight day as the market endures its most volatile stretch since February.

The Dow Jones industrials fell 545 points, or 2.1 percent, to 25,052.83 and the benchmark S&P 500 dropped 57 points, or 2.1 percent, to 2,728.37. Both indexes have fallen more than 5 percent the past two days.

This marks the sixth straight day of losses for the market, which has been rattled by rising interest rates, signs of a slowdown in the global economy and the U.S.-China trade dispute.

All of those factors could threaten the impressive profits Corporate America has been reporting this year.

All 11 sectors in the S&P 500 were lower, with banks and energy stocks the hardest hit.

U.S. stocks are falling again a day after their biggest drop since February. Some early relief over a tame report on inflation gave way to renewed selling.

Banks are taking some of the biggest losses. JPMorgan and Bank of America are each down close to 1.5 percent.

Bond yields, which have spiked over the last week, slid after the Labor Department said consumer prices rose less than economists expected in September. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.16 percent.